Chapter Nine: The Pixie-Puff Incident (or How Many Times Can We Apologise?)

"A— a werewolf?" exclaimed Lily. "Merlin." She couldn't even bring herself to add a ridiculous item Merlin could have had (hey, he was an eccentric wizard with little documentation... Sparkly high heels were totally plausible).

Lupin nodded cautiously. They were alone in the 6th year boys' dorm to ensure there were no unwanted eavesdroppers, and Lily was sitting on Peter's bed this time (unable to bring herself to look at James'). Remus was standing in the middle of the room, unable to meet Lily's incredulous gaze.

"Oh," she gulped, her eyebrows forming a concerned triangle in the middle of her forehead. "Right... I suppose that makes se— well I suppose it— well it explains some things doesn't it?"

In fact it explained a lot of things. It was as if everything she had known before was a puzzle and she had finally found the final piece.

"I mean, Sev— Snape suspected, but I just thought he was spouting conspiracy theories, trying to make me hate you all more…" Lily trailed off. "I can't believe I never— How could I not have noticed? We've lived in the same tower for six years and I didn't… A werewolf!"

Remus nodded slowly again, almost wishing he had taken Sirius up on his obliviate idea.

She got up abruptly and Remus flinched. He thought she was going to walk out on him, that she was going to leave and never really look at him again, only ever see a monster hiding in a skinny teenager's body. Because that was what he was, wasn't it?

She hugged him.

"I'm so so sorry Remus. I am so sorry that you've had to deal with this, but I'm here for you, and I always will be."

He breathed a long sigh of relief, exhaling all the anxiety that had pent up at the back of his throat.

"Uh, it's not close to full moon is it?" She asked tentatively, slightly ashamed to be nervous.

"Not for another week," he reassured her with a chuckle.

"Wait," Lily pulled back with a realisation. "That's why they became animagi? It wasn't for fun, it was so they could what? Go out with you? God. That's so... So Potter. Incredibly reckless yet somehow so well meaning."

"It helps… Having them with me. Makes the nights easier, makes me feel less like a monster."

"You're not a monster Remus!" She hugged him again, never wanting to let go of her friend lest he believe he really was.

"Lily, you can let go now, I can barely breathe here."

"Oh," she said, releasing him. "Sorry."

"You could rival Sirius for the most bone-crushing hugs!"

"Thanks?"

"Hey, at least you don't lick people when you're excited. And thank Merlin he doesn't have tail when he's not an animagus, it'd thrash everywhere."

If there was a spell that could make awkward tension a tangible thing, then there would have been a mountain of it piled on the Gryffindor dining table the next morning. Specifically in the area above the sausages between a certain bespectacled, messy-haired boy and the girl named Lily Evans.

Somehow (let's blame Mary MacDonald), despite the spacious length of the Great Hall tables they had ended up sitting opposite each other.

The enchanted ceiling was showing brewing clouds above their heads. James thought it brought out the red in Lily's hair. He would never admit that aloud. In fact, he was having a bit of trouble saying anything out loud with her sitting right there.

The boys were all sitting next to him, but they were engaged in their own conversation about the long term benefits of having a bad reputation. They had abandoned him to 'sort it out with Lily' with nothing more than a pat on the back.

James knew that Remus had talked to Lily, the details of their conversation had been retold in the dormitory the previous night. He knew that Lily had been understanding, and sympathetic, and he also knew that Lily felt bad about yelling. Yet he still couldn't bring himself to say anything to her.

Maybe it was the fact that he'd been rejected one too many times. Maybe he was still a little annoyed at her. Maybe he just didn't know what to say. Maybe he was just scared. (If that was it, maybe he shouldn't have been a Gryffindor.)

He could see Mary subtly elbowing Lily in the stomach, and Lily unsubtly glaring back at her over her toast. There was beginning to be a rhythm to it. Elbow, elbow, glare. Elbow, elbow, glare.

He reached past Peter to grab some Pixie Puffs. Elbow, elbow, glare. He didn't often have that particular cereal — it wasn't exactly very healthy, but saved it for special occasions like his birthday. After the weekend he'd had, he felt he deserved the treat. Elbow, elbow, glare.

"Quit it!" Hissed Lily under her breath, James could only just hear what she whispered. "He clearly doesn't want to talk to me."

Did he not want to talk to her? Was that what this hesitance was? No, he didn't think that was it. Elbow, elbow, glare. He just… wasn't sure how to start.

As he pondered, trying to avoid looking at Evans (and let's be honest failing miserably), James poured pumpkin juice in his bowl of cereal instead of milk.

Elbow, elbow, yelp! Lily had clearly finally given up on the power of glaring and stomped on Mary's toe instead. Yes, that probably would get Mary to stop.

As Mary pouted, and Lily rolled her eyes, James picked up his spoon and dipped it into his bowl of Pixie Puffs, unconscious of the fact it was swimming in essence of pumpkin.

Now if any of you have ever had a Pixie Puff dipped in Pumpkin juice you will understand James' immediate reaction of disgust upon it entering his mouth, however for those fortunate few who have avoided such horror I will take a moment to describe it. A Pixie Puff is an airy sweet cereal, with a touch of light crunch that is magically maintained when submerged in milk. It is sugary, but not overpowering or sickening, and with each bite you get a pleasant tingling sensation throughout your mouth (excessive consumption may induce sneezing, coughing, watering of eyes and other orifices, hysteria, and/or death, Honeydukesᵀᴹ is in no way liable for any complaints or instances regarding the aforementioned side-effects of consuming Pixie Puffsᵀᴹ). However, many of these charms do not retain in other liquids. So when James Potter put his spoon into his mouth expected an airy delight swimming in a bath of milk, what he got was a mushy paste of soggy spun wheat and sugar with a gulp of watery, pulpy pumpkin.

It was for that reason Lily Evans soon found her face inadvertently covered in it (well… It and rather too much of James' spit for her liking).

Well that was one way to start a conversation.

"Oh my Merlin I'm so sorry Lily!" gushed James, much like the cereal had gushed out of his mouth and across the table. Mary stifled a laugh. Lily blinked slowly in surprise. Some malformed Pixie Puff goop slid down her cheek.

"Godric, here, I'll clear it up." James whipped out his wand. "Aguamenti."

A large stream of water spurted out of his wand and, as if the dark clouds above their heads had finally burst, Lily Evans was soon absolutely drenched. The mushy Pixie Puffs were now in a puddle in her lap.

By this time, most of the Gryffindors were avidly watching the scene. Some were laughing, some were horrified, none could look away.

"Oh crap! Scourgify? Scourgify!" James frantically waved his wand in Lily's direction, his voice slowly increasing in desperation. Pink bubbling foam was added to the mix on her robes. Students from other houses were now turning around too look at what the disturbance was. From the teachers' table Dumbledore observed the commotion with a calm interest. Professor McGonagall put her face in her hands, bemoaning her house's reputation.

"Tergeo," said Remus calmly, leaning over mercifully and cleaning the watery mess off Lily, who was still staring at James, speechless.

"Lily I am so sorry. I just– there was pumpkin y'know? And I was distracted– so the charms– and– and the cereal, and I really didn't mean to, I promise." James adjusted his glasses awkwardly and stared down at the bowl of liquid that had started all this trouble. "Evanesco," he muttered, and it was vanished. He didn't think he would ever so much as touch a box of Pixie Puffs again.

"S'alright James," Lily finally replied, unusually quietly. "Though I'm not sure I'm very hungry anymore." She put down the slice of toast she had been eating with distaste.

"Mm, neither am I," agreed James. Then he tugged on his hair and his Gryffindor courage, and continued speaking. "I don't suppose you'd like to… To take a walk instead? I mean, if we're not gonna eat anymore, we may as well go and I don't know, talk?"

Mary elbowed Lily again. She was too startled to glare at her friend this time.

"Uh, sure… James… I'd like that."

They both got up, ignoring the fact that half the students (and the headmaster) were still watching them, and did the awkward walk down either side of the Gryffindor table until they finally met at the end and could exit the hall together.

(The Pixie Puff incident, a term imaginatively coined by some onlooking third year, soon become widely known throughout the castle. You know how gossip spreads. Those who had missed out on seeing James Potter spit cereal on Gryffindor's golden girl Lily Evans were understandably upset, although whoever told Peeves must have been feeling particularly destructive. Many claim it was that story which prompted the lovely series of wet cereal poltergeist attacks of 1977. Peeves also created a song which resonated around the Hogwarts halls for weeks after featuring some interesting descriptions. Lily and James didn't care.)

They walked in silence for some time, neither quite sure where they were going. After a while, near the portrait of Geraldine the Gracefully Ignorant (and her neighbour Plain Dave) they slowed to a stop. Lily looked down at her shoes and James brought his hand up to twist his hair nervously.

"I'm sorry," they said, simultaneously, finally looking each other in the eyes.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Lily continued, her heart beating faster than she wanted it to.

"I'm sorry for keeping secrets," James replied.

"I'm sorry for prying into them."

"I'm sorry for silencioing you and taking your wand."

"I'm sorry for trying to put veritaserum in your Pumpkin juice."

"Oh, so that's what that was," James said, breaking out of the pattern with surprise. "The boys thought it was a love potion."

"Why on earth would it have been a love potion?" Lily questioned incredulously.

"Oh something to do with revenge and losing reason or being obsessed I can't remember. Honestly veritaserum makes a lot more sense now that I think about it."

"I will never understand how boys' minds work. Never."

"Anyway, I'm sorry for deceiving you… And for underestimating you too."

"I'm sorry for blackmailing you… And not trusting you."

"I'm sorry," James looked at her very seriously for a moment, "for spitting cereal all over your face."

Lily laughed, very glad that she could feel comfortable around James again. James was glad to see her smiling again, especially at something he said.

Both feeling incredibly relieved they started walking again, to nowhere in particular, footsteps falling into time, hands falling casually, excitingly close.

"So how did you manage it?" Lily asked, unable to resist. "The whole animagus thing?"

"That… Well, with a lot of 'hypothetical questions' for McGonagall," James replied, then put on a mock-studious voice. "Purely for academic interest of course."

"I'm sure she never suspected a thing with that act," she laughed.

"Are you insulting my acting skills Evans?"

"I think you're insulting McGonagall's intelligence frankly."

"You wound me! I'm awfully convincing when I want to be y'know."

"Ah yes, like the time you tried to tell me that it was entirely Sirius's fault that my favourite scarf got eaten by a niffler even though Mary saw you dangling it in front of the poor thing's nose an hour before."

"But didn't you doubt Mary for just a moment after my gruelling sincere apology for my friend's dunderheaded action?"

"Not even for a second Potter," she grinned, shaking her head at him. "Not a second."

"Psh, it was your fault for having such a sparkly gold scarf anyway."

"It's a Gryffindor colour!"

"Your hair is Gryffindor enough to last you a lifetime Lily."

"Well everything about you is Gryffindor. You're reckless, and rash, and arrogant… And brave, ridiculously so considering you run around with a flipping werewolf. But knowing that you've done all that for him, it's so... Incredible." Lily looked almost embarrassed at saying all this, and for once she was the one playing with her hair. "You're loyal to a fault, although I suppose that's more of a Hufflepuff trait. And though I might not have always seen it, you're chivalrous and kind, and you care about people. And… I guess, what I'm trying to say, is I quite liked it when I was one of the people you cared about. And I know we've already apologised, but I want to just assure you that I'm done with the whole nosiness thing. Your secrets are yours to keep if you want."

"Oh Evans," James casually slung an arm around her shoulders, which she didn't push off. "You're one of us now, you get to be in on all the secrets! You're going to be begging for an escape soon, but you're stuck with us!"

Lily smiled, whether at the promise of his friendship or the arm around her it was hard to tell (James also smiled, definitely because of the arm he had around her).

"You know," he continued, "having someone to tell secrets to is actually going to be quite nice, 'cause the boys are already all in on them of course, so there's no joy in the reveal… Also—" he leaned in conspiratorially— "I'm not sure I've ever heard someone use the word 'and' as many times in one breath as you just did. That's quite the achievement."

As they talked and laughed they soon found themselves back outside the Gryffindor common room. After a raised eyebrow from the Fat Lady and a "Password?" the entrance swung open, allowing them in. As they stepped through James got a faint waft of blueberry and pomegranate and Lily thought she smelt broomstick polish.

For now, they both attributed the scents they knew from their amortentia to the cozy atmosphere of the common room, rather than the person they were standing next to. But either way;

They were home.

Oh my goodness that's the end! Except not really, because the epilogue is still to come and I promise you it's worth sticking around for. But YAY! Main storyline complete!

Tell me if you loved it, tell me if you hated it (I can take criticism I promise, I'll only cry a little ;) ), tell me what parts you liked, I would LOVE to know!

For those of you sad that they're not together yet just be patient my young padawans. This was a 6th year story, and they don't get together until 7th year silly beans. Have a little faith (*whispers* Epilogue! Epilogue!).

I wasn't originally planning to include any of the conversation between Remus and Lily, but a kind reviewer commented that they couldn't wait to see Lily's face when she found out (I have some bad news for you... You can't actually see it, I'm sorry, that's just how writing works! Did you not know?). So that inspired that little scene, and I hope you liked it! (Also this chapter was going to be wayyy too short, so I needed something to stick in)

Also, thank you for the italics support in the reviews for last chap, I'm glad I have some kindred spirits out there. I tried to cut down in this one, but I'm not sure I succeeded lol... Italics bring me life.

Sorry it took a bit longer than usual, we caught up to the point where I hadn't actually finished writing, and I've had a pretty bad week so it was hard for me to get motivated, but we're done now! The epilogue will come soon, it's pretty much complete.

(This AN has been very long... Apologies, I had a lot to say)

Thanks!

Your excited-for-the-epilogue Ravenclaw author